It took time, but the Knicks obviously — and finally — are on the right path, NBA commissioner David Stern said yesterday.
If one specific proposal by the owners in the current NBA labor negotiations is accepted, the Knicks could be saved from themselves in the future.
At one point in his half-hour interview with Mike Francesa on WFAN, Stern was addressing how big-market teams didn’t always thrive and was asked about the Knicks.
“I think the Knicks have found religion,” Stern said. “And watching what they’ve done with Amar’e [Stoudemire], with Carmelo [Anthony], with the team that is going to be surrounding them, they’re going to be fine. I think they lost their way for a while but they’re doing very well now and I’m looking forward to seeing the new building.”
One way the Knicks lost their way was through onerous contracts. Stern, while discussing guaranteed contracts, reviewed the owners’ idea to ensure Eddy Curry- and Jerome James-like deals don’t sink another franchise.
“What we’ve tried to do, which may ring a bell with fans in New York, we’ve said if you have a player who’s not performing, rather than get stuck with him and thereby not allow yourself to improve you can waive him and spread the payments over twice the length of his remaining contract,” Stern said. “If you get stuck with one or two bad contracts, you don’t have the ability to improve your team.”